chocolate tart with cocoa almond crust, paleo & gluten free

"Another great dinner with the Paleo Cooking Club... If you call it a club, people will want to join." So read my friend's status on facebook.

And she was right. As soon as she called it a club I wanted in. I wanted to know the secret handshake, get the matching t-shirt, and memorize and recite our mission statement. This cooking club was particularly appealing because we knew we could count on the dinner being gluten free. Win!

After getting the event details from my friend we set to work on deciding what we would bring. I knew my favorite salad, a maple roasted pumpkin salad with toasted pecans and feta, would have to make an appearance, and I knew we should bring some dessert.

A few weeks ago we picked up a gluten-free cookbook with a gorgeous looking cake on the cover. I immediately flipped through it and was disappointed to find that the only cake recipe in the book was that cover cake. "JERK," I thought, as I tossed it aside. What a bait and switch! Don't get me wrong, I love the savory side too... but I'M A BAKER. I want to see cakes, and frostings, and cookies.

Enter Tammy Credicott's new cookbook Paleo Indulgences. Tammy, writes the successful blog The Healthy GF Life, who's byline reads "gluten free to Paleo and all points in-between." (Hey, that is kinda like us these days!) Besides having a 1:1 photo to recipe ratio (I hate it when recipes don't have photos!), Tammy writes her recipes in a way that appeals to my engineer-baker mind. For one, she organizes ingredient lists into dries and wets. For another, she offers alternative more accurate metric measurements in grams and mL. Both are things we've become accustomed to using at the bakery.

And speaking of the bakery, I was stoked to see that Tammy starts off her cookbook with an aptly named section called "The bakery." (It's like she is talking TO ME!) Flipping through the 32 recipes throughout this section, I found enticing recipes for Paleo frostings, strawberry-walnut scones, and no-bake tarts.

For our party cooking club, I narrowed it down to cookies or a chocolate tart. Patrick conveniently didn't go the grocery store as asked to pick up eggs and so the answer was decided for me. A no-bake chocolate tart it would be.

I loved the recipe because it took less than 20 minutes to make, including the chill time and raspberry arranging, and only took one mixing bowl. After preparing the crust I simply wiped the bowl down with a damp paper towel and set to work mixing the filling.

The resulting tart sported a nutty cocoa crust and a thin chocolate-coconut bar layer. A little sprinkling of sea salt and the mix of sunshine and ruby red raspberries also gave the tart a pop of color and flavor. I was slightly concerned it wouldn't hold together for the 40 minute trip to my friend's house, but it made it just fine. Later on I learned that coconut oil won't melt below 24 °C (76 °F) so I had worried unnecessarily.

Because the tart was so well received, I would say we are a shoo-in to learn the secret club handshake. :)

Mix shell ingredients in a bowl until combined. Line an 8-in. tart pan with parchment paper and press shell ingredients into the pan until evenly distributed. Place tart pan on a baking sheet and chill. Meanwhile, prepare the filling: whisk coconut oil, cocoa powder, and maple syrup in a bowl until smooth. Pour into chilled tart shell and sprinkle lightly with sea salt. Put the tart in the freezer to set. Remove from the freezer and top with raspberries. Refrigerate until ready to serve.